India Microfinance

Sahara Parivar slams SEBI order calls it Irresponsible

Stung by market regulator SEBI’s (Securities and Exchange Board of India) ban on its firms and supremo Subrata Roy from raising money from the public, the Sahara Group today dubbed the order as “irresponsible” and said it will soon challenge the order that reflected “malice and bias” on the part of officials.

“SEBI has pushed us against the wall, that is why in the interest, image and goodwill of entire Sahara India Pariwar, we have been forced to come out with all the details… Now we shall soon appeal against SEBI’s action at an appropriate forum,” the group said in full-page advertisements in national newspapers.

“… Certain individuals occupying their office (SEBI officials) act with malice and biased approach which serve no public good and earn only a bad name,” Sahara India said in its campaign, which was launched within days of the order that barred and questioned the raising of funds by two group entities through a debenture instrument.Apart from banning Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECA), Sahara Housing Investment Corporation (SHICL) and their promoters — including Roy — from raising money from the public, SEBI said in its order on Thursday that there was a need for lifting the veil on corporate fund raising and sent a recommendation to the government for taking appropriate action under the Companies Act.

In this context, Sahara, a privately held group that had sought to raise the money through optionally fully convertible debentures from a close associate to keep out of the purview of SEBI, also sought to demonstrate its financial strength.

Questioning the contention that it has raised Rs 4,000 -7,000 crore through the debenture instrument, Sahara said it was bringing out details about the group’s financials. Against a liability of Rs 34,328 crore as on June 30, 2010, the market value of Sahara Group companies was Rs 1.09 lakh crore, it said.

It may be mentioned that the value of the assets of Mukesh Ambani-led RIL was placed at Rs 2.51 lakh crore, as per the latest balance sheet, while that of the Tata Group is Rs 2.50 lakh crore. The net assets of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) companies are estimated to be worth Rs 1.15 lakh crore.